ABSTRACT
The traditional method of generating master gratings is by burnishing one groove at a time with a diamond tool against a thin evaporated metal coating deposited on the surface of a plane or curved substrate. Quality of the diffracted wavefront depends on the ability of a mechanical ruling engine to operate at levels of precision that are measured in nanometers. Thanks to interferometric feedback control such results are routinely achieved. However, there are spectrometric problems, such as Raman spectrometry, where even the smallest residual mechanical noise of the best ruled gratings shows up in measurements. These difficulties alone are enough to provoke a search for alternative methods of grating manufacturing.
